We are months away from Michigan and Michigan State renewing their annual rivalry on the gridiron, but we already have insight to how one On3 writer believes that game will play out.

Chris Balas of The Wolverine was recently on the Andy & Ari On3 podcast to breakdown the upcoming Michigan football season. As part of that interview, Balas discussed his game-by-game predictions for the upcoming season where he has the Wolverines going 9-3 with potential losses to Oklahoma, Nebraska, USC and Ohio State. This prediction suggested Michigan would once again beat the Spartans, with Balas not even bringing up the road trip to East Lansing, Mich. in late October as a tough game for the Wolverines.

You can hear the podcast interview with Balas by clicking here — his prediction segment is near the end of the interview at the 24 minute mark.

Michigan State has lost the last three meetings against the Wolverines, with last year’s battle coming down to the final minutes. The Spartans will host rival Michigan on October 25 this season, with expectations of Michigan State pulling the upset being higher this fall than the previous few seasons.

At this point in the offseason, I personally would also lean towards Michigan winning this game. But it’s very close to a toss-up for me since there are a ton of uncertainties around both programs — especially at quarterback and offense in general. Whoever gets better quarterback play this fall will most likely win this heated rivalry game.

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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: On3 writer picks Wolverines to beat Spartans this season